Ruth Everett-Thomas, R.N., Ph.D.

Ruth Everett-Thomas is a registered nurse and respiratory therapist who currently works as the Center’s research and training specialist. She assists hospital-based departments with training programs for physicians, nurses, and students regarding patient safety/health care worker safety and hand hygiene compliance. Ruth also assists the department in research endeavors for various projects by preparing Internal Review Board (IRB) documents, grant and proposal writing, as well as abstract and manuscript preparations.

Ruth has worked extensively in the newborn intensive care area with a special interest in pulmonary physiology. She has worked primarily with premature and very ill infants in an effort to identify various factors that promote lung disease and assist in determining some preventive strategies. She has also used animal models to simulate disease processes to evaluate modes of mechanical ventilation as well as proper device functioning during the era of surfactant use, Nitric oxide, and ECHMO in critically-ill infants.

Ruth has seven years of experience as the site coordinator in both national and internal multi-site research trials as part of the National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD) and pharmaceutical research projects.